Two Years Without Baba: Parents Are Always Right

The year was 2005, and at Therbow Secondary School in Zaria, an atmosphere of tension hung over the classrooms. The school had just concluded its junior class examinations, a crucial test before students could enter Senior Secondary School. In those days, the school's grading system was strict and rigid, with high scores granting admission to the Science class while average or medium scores sent students to the Arts.

Although the Arts students possessed great intellect, they were often placed in a secondary position due to this system. One student found themselves firmly stamped under the Science class after the final lists were posted. Despite their disappointment, they had long cherished the ambition to become a lawyer, a vocation that required skills in words, logic, and rhetoric rather than numbers.

It didn't help that the student also despised mathematics with fervency, feeling a spiritual aversion towards it. They wanted to be in the Arts class with their closest friends, influenced by peer pressure and the desire to remain within their social circle. Growing up, the student had learned to accept whatever their father, their Baba, decided as the unassailable truth. However, this time, they chose to defy convention.

Upon the resumption of Senior Secondary School, Baba implemented a stringent academic regimen of drills to ensure their mastery of mathematics and English. While their peers enjoyed their morning and afternoon breaks, the student spent numerous hours chained to a desk, undergoing extra lessons. However, the student grew increasingly rebellious, finding ways to avoid the lessons.

Their tactics became so desperate that their tutors offered free lessons to a friend named Mohammed Zubairu (Utaka), hoping that Utaka's presence would entice the student back into class. Eventually, the student confronted Baba's predetermined blueprint. They firmly declared, "I want to be a lawyer, not an engineer." Baba remained resolute, with a calm authority that commanded respect, stating that the world was rapidly changing, with engineering and technology being the undeniable future.

Despite Baba's unwavering assurance, the student's resolve remained as unyielding as ever. In an unexpected turn of events, Baba opted not to force the student but instead requested through formal channels that they be transferred from the Science stream to the Arts. The principal, faced with an unprecedented request, found themselves in a bewildered state.

The waiting room was filled with frantic parents, all desperately trying to persuade the authorities to move their children from the Arts to the Sciences. Here was a case where the parent was urging the opposite.

The principal looked at the parent as if they had asked the impossible, but ultimately, the bureaucratic system yielded to the young, stubborn student. They were officially moved from the elite Science stream to the Arts class. The student entered the Arts classroom with their head held high, feeling they had triumphed in their battle for destiny.

However, destiny had a mischievous sense of humor. Years later, when the university admission list was finally released, the irony was undeniable. The student did not get to study Law, despite their unwavering insistence. Instead, they were offered a completely different course, and four years later, they walked across the graduation stage with a Bachelor of Arts.

The pursuit of Law, their lifelong ambition, had eluded them. Looking back on that showdown in Zaria, the student found themselves in a workplace that was 60% to 70% technical, filled with algorithms, infrastructure, and engineering metrics. Every now and then, sitting in high-level meetings, they were struck with a sudden wave of memory, accompanied by a quiet, nagging question: What if?

They sat amidst brilliant engineers, fully aware of their lack of technical know-how. Despite this, they could only contribute based on what they had read and tried to understand. While the technical discussions on engineering mechanics left them largely quiet, they excelled in policy and administrative areas, where their knowledge was extensive.

Nevertheless, a part of them always wished they had the technical edge Baba wanted them to possess. Baba's intention was not to stifle their creativity but to shield them from the quiet helplessness of a non-technical man in a digital age. Despite Baba's foresight, the student realized the truth only years later. The world had indeed changed, just as Baba had predicted.

Technology and engineering had become the language of the modern world. The student now understood that their stubborn youth had been misguided in their pursuit of a dream that eluded them. However, they encouraged their three younger siblings to pursue Law, compensating for the dream that had slipped through their fingers. Today, one of their children, Iliya, is a practicing lawyer. Tragically, their sister Aisha (Maama) had passed away at a young age.